Oo, only just seen your reply.

Incidentally, is there any way to follow individual posts(‘ comments)?

(The(?)) TCN:

I would be delighted if you could provide me with evidence-based numbers of antiquities looted from the north and the south. I do agree that it’s reasonable to assume that more stuff is getting looted from the north; but we must remember that it is an assumption.

I think you’re also ignoring the other reason for the southern market driving the looting of the north: religious nationalism. The Greek Cypriots are not so keen to loot the area under their control, because it is under their control; but they are very keen to “rescue” Greek (Cypriot) and/or Christian antiquities from the area under Turkish Cypriot/Muslim control.

(Even that’s ignoring the far more complicated history of antiquities collecting.)

Notably, there is obviously a lot of money, infrastructure, etc., elsewhere in the west; but Cypriot antiquities don’t sell that well elsewhere; and when they do, it seems to be primarily to Greek Cypriots living abroad.

So, the Cypriot trade is a special case; religious nationalism is important. That situation is different from, for example, the Greek antiquities market (which has a mass of secular, non-Greek buyers); and that might be surprising to some.

It should certainly be interesting to some, because it suggests that Greek Cypriots do have the power to massively reduce the looting of the north. They could stop paying for it.

I should hope Aegean law enforcement is not surprised by the business being done in the south, since it is one of the buyers doing business there.

Generally:

It’s weird to get interest in this (and my blog) now. Have I missed another case in the news this week…?